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Music legend Merle Haggard to appear at civic center

At 73, Merle Haggard has had more than 50 years in music with 40 No. 1 country hits. On Saturday, he'll perform many of those songs at the Savannah Civic Center.

His latest release is titled "I Am What I Am," and in it, Haggard looks inward, exploring his past. One of the songs on the album is the sentimental "Oil Tanker Train," which he has called "My favorite song on the album - that's a true deal."

Haggard was born outside Bakersfield, Calif. His parents had moved the family there after their farm in Oklahoma burned down, and the family lived in an old boxcar they had converted into a home.

When Haggard was just 9, his father died of a stroke. As he was very close to his father, the loss was devastating and it made the boy turn rebellious.

When he was 10, Haggard hopped on a freight train, making it to Fresno before he was picked up by authorities. That led to truancy and petty crime, and the future superstar was often locked up in reform schools for shoplifting and other offenses.

A love of music led Haggard to start playing guitar. He began making some money by playing music, but it wasn't enough to keep him out of trouble.

At 15, Haggard left home with a friend, and they were arrested as suspects in a robbery. He was innocent of the crime, but still spent 2 1/2 weeks in jail.

After that, Haggard was in and out of jail several times until he was 20, when he was sentenced to San Quentin State Prison for three years on an attempted robbery charge. Even in prison, he kept up with his music, and after his release in 1960, he joined the Bakersfield outlaw country scene.

Haggard's first recording, "Sing a Sad Song," was released in 1964 and made the Top Twenty. In 1967, he had three Top Ten singles, including the No. 1 hit "The Fugitive."

"I didn't want to talk about being in prison, but Cash said I should talk about it," he said. "That way, the tabloids wouldn't be able to. I said I didn't want to do that and he said, 'It's just owning up to it.'"

Later, Cash would introduce Haggard on his variety show by saying, "Here's a man who writes about his own life and has had a life to write about."

During the Vietnam War, Haggard took a political stance with his music, speaking for those people who didn't protest the war. That led to an invitation by President Richard Nixon to sing at the White House, and an unconditional pardon from California Gov. Ronald Reagan.

At the civic center, Haggard will perform with his band, the Strangers, many of whom have been with him for decades. The Malpass Brothers also will perform, as will Haggard's son, Noel Lee Haggard.

In 1994, Haggard was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2008, part of his lung was removed after he was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer, but it hasn't slowed him down.

Haggard isn't conventional, but he's often confrontational and always controversial. Today, he sings about society's downfall.

"It's pretty sad actually," Haggard said. "It just seems like it's one thing after another that we lose every day. You get up, turn on the radio and something else went down the drain.

"I guess people that care have got to bind together somehow," he said. "Maybe doing that through the music is the best way."

IF YOU GO

What: Merle Haggard performing with his band the Strangers, his son Noel Lee Haggard and the Malpass Brothers.